by Catrin Fflur Huws

Francois Pandolfo

Francois Pandolfo talks about being at Edinburgh Fringe Festival playing The Friend in To Kill a Machine a new play about Alan Turing written by Catrin Fflur Huws.

How has this experience of Edinburgh Fringe differed from previous visits?

I was here last time as a stage manager in 2008, not normally my bag but I was helping out a producer friend at The Assembly Rooms with a show he was looking after called The Pyjama Men. Very funny boys indeed! I vowed that I would return one day as a performer because I found the experience so intoxicating for anyone itching to use Edinburgh as a testing bed for creativity. It’s only taken me 7 years but here I am. Better late than never!
What is it like to be in a show that is receiving such incredible responses from audience?

Amazing. I would like to say it’s expected because we’ve always had such faith in the piece but it really is a lovely surprise because there is so much competition here and if I show stands out and gets a really good response then it really is quite special. It’s such an honour to be part of such a creative team and we are having an absolute ball. To be honest, even if the show wasn’t doing as well as it is, we’d still be having a great time because my fellow cast members, crew and company are a real blast. I’m going to be having major festival blues after this.

What has been your favourite experience of the festival so far?

Going to see a late night mime show called ‘Dark Side of the Mime’ at Assembly Roxy venue. It completely pushed all the boundaries and went all out to test what we allow and don’t allow ourselves to find funny. It explores, examines and exploits what it is to be human today. Really brave, funny, grotesque and extremely naughty. It was incredible and I had such a good time. 2nd experience would be seeing ‘Diary Of A Madman’ at The Zoo Venues. Robert Bowman literally gives a master class in acting in this inspired piece of theatre about insanity and loneliness. It blew my mind. Hopefully there are many more to come.